Both share in their notes the symbolism from their lineages that appears in the words and images in We Are Water Protectors, from a ribbon skirt to the inclusion of animals that are 'clan symbols or hold special significance in traditional teachings.' For both Lindstrom and Goade, a powerful inspiration for their story comes from the historic stand that the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe took in 2016 against the Dakota Access Pipeline (a pipeline that, though declared safe, leaked before it was even completed) and the way that this grew into a movement that brought together 'more than five hundred Indigenous Nations from all over the world to stand for clean water.' Lindstrom and Goade show readers that, like the stand at Standing Rock, we need to come together, 'rise up, resist, and join together in solidarity for Mother Earth regardless of where we come from. Goade is of Tlingit descent and is tribally enrolled with the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. Lindstrom is of Anishinaabe /Métis descent and is tribally enrolled with the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe. We Are Water Protectors includes essential notes from Lindstrom and Goade, as well as a glossary and further reading. This ominous, frightening threat is followed by my favorite illustration in the book, and possibly one of my favorite picture book illustrations ever (below).

Wreck everything in its path,' and Goade expands on these words with illustrations of a snake/oil pipeline hybrid with a fiery tongue and a haze of pollution surrounding it. Water is sacred, she said.' The narrator recounts the Anishinaabe prophecy that warns of a 'black snake that will destroy the land. It nourished us inside our mother's body. Through the voice of her narrator, Lindstrom introduces readers to the ancestry, inheritance and communal responsibility of Native Nations, starting with these words, 'Water is the first medicine, Nokomis told me. It is also a work that is powerfully poetic and straightforward in its message and richly layered and complex for readers ready to dive deeper. We Are Water Protectors is a stunning picture book that and a call to action.

The water protectors book